movies – Daniel N. Blair

What is the Story Palette for Bladerunner?

The Story Palette for Bladerunner differs significantly from Star Wars or Indiana Jones. Star Wars has two competing teams, one chasing the other. Indiana Jones is a cycle of finding and losing something for all parties. But Bladerunner’s primary focus is more cerebral. It took me a while to identify the repeating pattern, and I documented my thought process, which I will include in a later post.

If the concept of a Story Palette will help others, I hope I can find tools to accelerate assembling and playing with story palettes. I hope Large Language Models and other AI tools will help. Until I figure those tools out, maybe the best thing I can do is communicate my discoveries.

So, what is the pattern of repeating actions in Bladerunner? Here they are:

Questions: Asking questions, investigating, trying to find answers.
Playing: Pretending, playful deception (usually harmless on its own), misleading, acting, toys, origami, and games, including chess.
Violence: threats, death, breaking fingers, killing butterflies, boiling dogs, etc.

That’s it. So, to explore how these points repeat throughout the film, let’s go through the scenes of Bladerunner. The Big Story Goals for Bladerunner are pretty simple, so I won’t highlight them in the scenes this time around as I do in my book for the Original Star Wars trilogy. Here are the Big Story Goals at a high level:

Replicants search for a genetic engineer to help them get more life, leading them from Holden to Chew, to Sebastien, to Tyrell. They fail to extend their lives.
Deckard hunts the replicants on his list.
Rachel is added to Deckard’s list. Rachel saves his life, and Deckard decides to save her in return. Then Roy saves Deckard before dying. The original replicants on Deckard’s list are retired, but Deckard continues to protect Rachel.

Now that the Big Story Goals are out of the way let’s get into how Questions, Play, and Violence repeat throughout the story, creating the feel of Bladerunner. Buckle up. This is a bit of a trip. The bolded text relates back to the Story Palette of repeating actions.

Holden questions Leon. Leon pretends to be human, trying to pass the Voight-Kampff test. Leon shoots Holden.

“They’re just questions, Leon. In answer to your query, they’re written down for me. It’s a test, designed to provoke an emotional response… Shall we continue?”

Gaff arrests Deckard and asks him to speak with Police Chief Bryant. Deckard pretends he can’t understand Gaff.

“He say, you under arrest, Mr. Deckard.”

What’s this? Nexus 6.

Bryant asks Deckard to help with the Nexus-Six replicants. He pretends to be friendly, but Deckard has no choice. When he tries to leave, Bryant threatens him. Gaff folds an origami chicken.

“You wouldn’t have come if I’d just asked you to. Sit down, pal.”
“Stop right where you are. You know the score, pal. If you’re not cop, you’re little people.“

Bryant describes how the replicants slaughtered their way to Earth. Deckard asks questions about the replicant’s motivations. Gaff folds an origami unicorn.

“Well, I don’t get it. What do they risk coming back to earth for? That’s unusual. Why— what do they want out of the Tyrell Cooperation?”

At Tyrell’s office, Rachel introduces herself and asks Deckard about his job. Deckard questions Rachel with the Voight-Kampff test. Tyrell misleads Deckard, pretending Rachel is human. They discuss retiring replicants, killing a human by mistake, killing butterflies, cheating in a relationship, and boiled dog. They even discuss watching a stage play.

“I’m impressed. How many questions does it usually take to spot them?”

Deckard searches Leon’s apartment, finding Leon’s photos and fish scales. Gaff escorts Deckard and folds an origami statue of a man with an erection. Leon walks outside the apartment, watching Deckard and Gaff, but does not enter.

Roy asks Leon about his photos and the police. They break into Chew’s lab. Leon tears off Chew’s coat, freezing him. Roy questions Chew about morphology, longevity, and incept dates. Chew doesn’t know, so Roy asks who does. Leon plays with the cryogenic tanks and puts eyeballs on Chew’s shoulders like toys.

“Chew, if only you could see what I’ve seen with your eyes. Questions.”
“I don’t know answers.”
“Who does?”

Rachel hides in Deckard’s elevator, and he almost shoots her. She brings photos to prove she is human, but he questions her memories, calling out her memory of playing doctor with her brother.

“Remember that? You ever tell anybody that? Your mother, Tyrell, anybody huh?“

Pris pretends to meet J.F. Sebastian by accident, and Sebastian promises not to hurt her. Pris asks him about himself and his genetic creations, pretending not to know anything about genetic design, while Sebastion introduces his engineered toy friends.

“I make friends. They’re toys. My friends are toys. I make them. It’s a hobby. I’m a genetic designer. Do you know what that is?”
“No.“

Toys that greet you!

Deckard asks a fishmonger about the scale he found in Leon’s apartment. She tells him it’s a snake scale, leading him to Abdul ben Hassan. Deckard asks Abdul who bought the snake, but Abdul tries to evade. Deckard grabs him by his tie and gets the name Taffy Lewis.

“My work? Not too many could afford such quality.”

Deckard asks Taffy Lewis questions, and Taffy pretends he’s never seen the girl in the photo. Deckard threatens him, asking, “Your licenses in order, pal?” He calls Rachel and invites her to drink, but she refuses, acting like she hasn’t already run away from Tyrell Corp (we’ll find this out later).

Deckard pretends to be an agent from “The American Federation of Variety Artists” to ask Zhora some questions.

“Ha! Are you for real?”

Zhora lures Deckard in, chops him in the throat, and almost strangles him to death with his tie. Deckard chases her and shoots her in the back, retiring her.

Violence in slow motion

Gaff hits Deckard with his cane to get his attention, and Deckard says he’s going home. Bryant tells Deckard there are four more to go and informs Deckard that Rachel has been added to his hit list.

Note: This scene doesn’t fit the Palette as well as others, but it is necessary exposition for the rest of the film. Star Wars had this, too, with Obi-Wan introducing the lightsaber to Luke and again when they introduced the Death Star trench run to the pilots. Brief exposition scenes build up the following Big Story Goals that guide the characters.

Deckard sees Rachel on the street and tries to find her but is intercepted by Leon, who is much stronger than him. Leon asks, “How old am I?” Deckard lies and pretends he doesn’t know. Leon asks how long he will live. Leon slaps Deckard’s gun out of his hand and throws him around like a doll. Rachel shoots and kills Leon with Deckard’s gun.

Wake up! Time to die.

Deckard takes Rachel back to his apartment, where she asks him how she can survive. Deckard won’t chase her, but another Bladerunner will. She plays piano, and they get romantic, but then Deckard gets violent, throwing her against the window blinds.

Pris puts on makeup and does a cartwheel before she asks J.F. Sebastian many questions about how she looks, his health, and why he’s still on earth. Roy enters and informs Pris they are the only two left.

“Then we’re stupid, and we’ll die.”

Whatcha doing?

Roy plays with Sebastian’s chess pieces. Pris plays with a dismembered doll. Sebastian asks, “What generation are you?” Pris does a backward cartwheel and puts her hand into boiling water to grab an egg, which she throws at Sebastian, who can’t hold it.

Roy asks about Sebastien’s opponent in chess, trying to get access to Tyrell. Roy squeezes Sebastien, who initially refuses but, under pressure, agrees to help them.

“Will you help us?”

Sebastien and Roy go to Tyrell’s apartment and play chess to get in. Roy asks for more life and about the possible ways to extend his longevity. Roy kills Tyrell and Sebastien.

“Would you like to be modified?”

Deckard hears a bulletin about Sebastien’s death, and a police car buzzes by, asking what he is doing and threatening to arrest him. Deckard confirms his police ID and calls Sebastien’s apartment. Pris answers, asking who’s calling. Deckard pretends to be a friend of Sebastien’s, and Pris hangs up.

“That’s no way to treat a friend.”

Deckard investigates the apartment. Pris pretends to be one of Sebastien’s toys. When Deckard gets close, she attacks him. He shoots and kills her.

Roy returns and dodges Deckard’s bullets twice. He asks Deckard, “Aren’t you the good man?” and “Proud of yourself, little man?” Roy breaks Deckard’s fingers and instigates a game of cat and mouse.

“You better get it up, or I’m gonna have to kill ya! Unless you’re alive, you can’t play, and if you don’t play…”

Deckard hits Roy with a pipe, and Roy drives a nail through his own hand as his longevity runs out. As Deckard’s grip slips from the roof, Roy asks his last question, “Quite an experience to live in fear, isn’t it?”

Then Roy saves Deckard’s life before his own life runs out.

Gaff returns Deckard’s gun to him, saying, “It’s too bad she won’t live. But then again, who does?”

Deckard returns to his apartment, asking, “Rachel? Rachel? Rachel?” looking for her. He finds her in bed, and it seems like she might be dead, but she is only sleeping. He asks, “Do you love me? Do you trust me?” as they leave, he finds a paper unicorn on the floor.

So, that is the repeating pattern that drives Bladerunner’s mood. Lots of questions, playing pretend, toys, and games, punctuated by threats, violence, and death. I was surprised by how playful the dark story is, but it profoundly contrasts the deep questions about life and the violence surrounding the characters.

Does this cover everything in the story? Definitely not. There’s a lot of world-building and themes that are not included in the Story Palette. For instance, the movie mentions and shows many animals: owls, snakes, doves, pigeons, rats, ostriches, dogs, butterflies, unicorns, and tortoises. Rescue appears like an exclamation point in Bladerunner when Rachel and Roy save Deckard, but it is not a repeating action throughout the film. And maybe in some examples, I am stretching trying to prove my point.

But Bladerunner would not be Bladerunner if you removed the questions, the playful pretend, or the violence. The plot points could be almost identical, but the story could focus on rescues, escapes, and fights like Star Wars. The whole mood would change. I believe these repeating actions are the heartbeat of the story’s mood and feel. The creativity comes in combining the elements from the palette into the scenes, almost like mixing paint. How many ways can characters play and pretend? What questions could they ask? And how can you thread violence and threats into most scenes in new and exciting ways?

So, if you want a story to feel more like Bladerunner, have the characters ask lots of questions and search for answers, play pretend and play some games, and then delve into threats and violence to punctuate each scene. Then, throw in lots of animal and animal references and beautiful visuals for good measure.

What does Forrest Gump want?

Which of the 16 desires motivates Forrest Gump? The first thing that comes to mind is he likes running, chocolate, and ice cream. Does that fit into the 16 desires? I think it might!

Forrest starts life with a back as ‘crooked as a politician’ and sports leg braces through elementary school. He’s ridiculed for being mentally slow, but Forrest can outrun bullies on their bikes when he kicks off his shackles.

“Now, you wouldn’t believe me if I told you. But I can run like the wind blows. From that day on, if I was going somewhere, I was running!”

The bullies chase Forrest throughout high school, switching out bikes for trucks, but by the time Forrest is nearing graduation, he is a world-class runner. This is his ticket to college football with a full-ride scholarship. He even becomes an All-American and eventually a world-class ping pong player. But we are looking at ability. Forrest is a gifted athlete. Maybe even superhuman. But people may like sports for the friends they make or the competition, but Forrest likes physical activity for its own sake.

“I ran clear across Alabama. For no particular reason, I just kept on going. I ran clear to the ocean. And when I got there, I figured, since I’d gone this far, I might as well turn around just keep on going.”

Reporters ask him, “Sir, why are you running?” They ask if he is doing it for world peace, women’s rights, the environment, animals, or nuclear arms.

But that wasn’t Forrest’s motivation. “They just couldn’t believe that somebody would do all that running for no particular reason.” But his answer was, “I just felt like running.”

So, what else motivates Forrest Gump? Maybe the next clue is in another of the film’s famous lines, “Life is like a box of chocolate.” Does food motivate Forrest? He remembers meeting the president, but the real treat of that trip was all the free Dr. Pepper! Forrest offers Lieutenant Dan ice cream. And he and Bubba bond over shrimp! Forrest even starts the shrimping company in Bubba’s name. He is also excited to invest in the fruit company Apple.

So, eating might be on his list. What else? We can look at Forrest’s dedication to Bubba after his death. Is Forrest honorable? He respects his mother but doesn’t understand or follow local traditions. He’s not interested in social hierarchy, power, or vengeance. In fact, the only times Forrest gets violent is when defending his friends. He beats up several of Jenny’s abusive boyfriends and carries his whole unit to safety in Vietnam. What about social contact? Is Forrest motivated by his friends? I think he is.

He may not be smart, and he may misunderstand situations, but Forrest loves being with his friends. Throughout the movie, he has three close friends: Jenny, Bubba, and Lieutenant Dan. He meets Jenny and Bubba on a bus. When everyone else rejects him, saying, “Seat’s taken,” Jenny and Bubba invite him to share their seat, saying, “You can sit here if you want to.” Forrest is constantly rejected and bullied, but does he want to be accepted? I don’t think that is his motivation. Instead, he wants companionship.

Forrest and his friends protect one another. Jenny tells Forrest to run away from danger, and Forrest attacks her abusive boyfriends. Forrest saves Bubba and Lieutenant Dan, and Lieutenant Dan kicks the drunk girls out of his New Year’s party for calling Forrest Stupid.

So here is my guess for Forrest Gump’s motivations:

Physical Activity (Exercise, Active, Moving)
Social Contact (Friendship, Companions, Group play)
Eating (Food, thinking about food and planning meals)

And while we are here, let’s guess what motivates Forrest’s best friends.

I think Jenny is motivated primarily by acceptance because she always wants to fit into social trends, whether playing guitar or doing drugs. I think she values her own independence because she is fiercely self-reliant. That behavior may come from her abusive childhood, but she has a chance to stay with Forrest when he gets her pregnant, and she chooses to leave and live on her own, leaving him and his gazillion dollars behind. I think where Forrest wants a friend, Jenny wants someone who will accept her. Romance may be another of her motivations. She’s entranced by art and appearance, always fitting in with the times. She could also be an idealist, but I think most of that is a cover to be accepted by the cool crowd of her day.

So here are my guesses for Jenny’s motivations:

Acceptance (Attention, Approval, Inclusion)
Independence (Freedom, Self Reliance, Determination)
Romance (Beauty, Art, Attraction)

For Bubba, Eating is his primary motivation. He can talk for days about food. We don’t see as much of Bubba in the film, but my second guess would be social contact. He is happy to have Forrest as a friend. As for a third motivation, I am not sure. Maybe even the second motivation is weak since we don’t get to know Bubba that well.

So my guesses for Bubba’s motivations are:

Eating (Food, thinking about food, and planning meals)
Social Contact (Friendship, Companions, Group play)

Lieutenant Dan’s primary motivation is Honor. Forrest tells us that Dan “was from a long, great military tradition. Somebody in his family fought and died in every single American war.” And Dan had every intention of honoring that tradition. If not for Forrest, Lt. Dan would have died in the field, which is exactly what he wanted. But Forrest saved him. One night, in the hospital in Vietnam, Dan pulls Forrest to the ground and accuses him of dishonoring him.

“You cheated me. I had a destiny. I was supposed to die in the field! With honor!
That was my destiny! And you cheated me out of it! You understand what I’m saying, Gump? This wasn’t supposed to happen. Not to me. I had a destiny. I was Lieutenant Dan Tyler.”

Dan sarcastically promises Forrest that he will be his first mate if he starts a shrimping company. And Dan honors that promise. Even his protecting Forrest might be because he owes Forrest his life. My guess for his second motivation is Vengeance, which mostly comes from the Hurricane Andrew scene when he curses at the sky. This one isn’t as strong as his motivation for Honor. Now that I think about it, Honor still covers Dan here. Dan feels dishonored and wants to die, just like he did in the field.

So I take it back. I think Lt. Dan is motivated by the following:

Honor (Integrity, Loyalty, Trust, Tradition)

Dan’s motivation for honor is so all-encompassing it makes him a force of nature. Losing his legs is such a deep blow that it might give him enough dimension without secondary motivations. We don’t get to know Dan on a personal level until after Forrest saves him. Dan has lost the honor he wanted and has to come to peace with himself, Forrest, and God.

The characters in Forrest’s have significant flaws. Jenny was abused. Lt. Dan lost his unit and his legs. Bubba wasn’t much smarter than Forrest. And Forrest knows he is not a smart man. Forrest hates being called stupid and cries in relief when he finds out his son is one of the “smartest in his class.” Forrest’s lack of intelligence is a weakness but does not determine his motivations or personality. Forrest wants physical activity, friends, and food. And I think examining his friends rounds out Forrest’s world.

Interestingly, while we know Forrest well and can carefully pick out his motivations, the secondary characters present more of a challenge. I’d be pushing too far by demanding that Bubba or Lt. Dan have three unique motivations. They do not seem to.

Maybe we’d get to know them better if we had more time with them in the film. But they are memorable characters who significantly impact Forrest and us. And the motivations they do have are so clear they are almost archetypal in their presence. Dan’s talk about Honor and Bubba’s talk about shrimp are legendary. So maybe if you have a side character who needs to leave a serious impact on the audience, pick one motivation and turn it up to eleven.

Money in Story, is there any escape from cold hard cash?

Is story all about money? Even when there is not a bag of money to motivate the characters, are we dealing with wealthy characters? Are movies secretly about the Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous? Characters can quickly become wealthy and barely notice it, like Harry Potter, who went from sleeping in a closet under the stairs to inheriting a mountain of gold at Gringotts in chapter 5 of the first book.

Let’s take a look at IMDB’s top 25 rated movies to see. It’s not a fair sampling of all stories, but it might be enough to run a simple test.

Hello, yes? Money speaking.

The Shawshank Redemption (1994): Andy Dupree withdraws $370,000 of laundered money in 1966, or about $3.3 million today.
The Godfather (1972): The Corleone family is worth a billion, possibly more. We don’t see stacks of money lying around, but killing off your competitors for the family has a solid profit margin.
The Dark Knight (2008), Bruce Wayne is the quintessential billionaire worth an estimated $50 billion.
The Godfather Part II (1974): The billionaire Corleone family again.
12 Angry Men (1957): Unknown. Juror #4 seems to be a man of wealth and position, but we do not know most of the jurors’ names, let alone their income.
Schindler’s List (1993): Oskar Schindler, a wealthy German industrialist and entrepreneur is a millionaire who uses his fortune to save Jews during WW2.
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003): Aragorn, crowned as High King Elessar, reunites Arnor’s and Gondor’s kingdoms. While his net worth may be difficult to judge, there would be few in middle earth with more power and resources.
Pulp Fiction (1994) Crimelord Marsellus Wallace is a millionaire with influence from the world of boxing to drugs and smuggling.
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), Bilbo is the wealthiest hobbit in all the Shire. The Mithril armor he gifts Frodo is worth more than the whole Shire combined. Estimated fantasy armor millionaire.
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (1966) Blondie walks away with 200,000 gold dollars, or about 16.5 million in today’s currency.
Forrest Gump (1994) Forrest Gump is a billionaire and possibly a gozillionaire thanks to Bubba Gump Shrimp and Hurricane Andrew.
Fight Club (1999): Tyler Durden may not be wealthy, but he destroys all the credit card records worth, gifting debt holders $480 billion in 1999 or $887 billion today. Project Mayhem is all about debt and money.
Inception (2010): Fischer and Saito are billionaires keeping the dream alive.
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) I am going with Galadriel this time, who surpasses all other elves in beauty, knowledge, and power. Not all about money, but she did get one of the three elf rings of power.
Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back (1980) – Lando might be the wealthiest member of this film; he owns Cloud City and lives in luxury. Estimated Cloud City millionaire, but Vader definitely is more powerful. Leia probably lost much of her wealth when Alderan blew up, otherwise, she would top the list.
The Matrix (1999) – This is not all about money because the world is a simulation. It’s hard to worry about money when humans are batteries, and you eat amino goop for every meal.
Goodfellas (1990) – When you measure money by inches, not amount, it just might be about the money. Henry’s biggest frustration in leaving organized crime is he’s just an average nobody, like everyone else.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975) – There are no millions here, but gambling, betting, and games like Monopoly make appearances teaching inmates about their agency. Not about the money, but money makes some great arguments here.
Se7en (1995) – John Doe targets his second victim, wealthy and amoral attorney Eli Gould, for his sin of greed. Not sure about the amount, but Gould has lots of ill-gotten money.
Seven Samurai (1954): Poor farmers look for impoverished Samurai who will take rice as their payment for defending the village from bandits. No millionaires here, but rice motivates everything in this Japanese period epic.
It’s a Wonderful Life (1946) Mr. Potter is the wealthiest and meanest man in Bedford Falls and owns most businesses, including the Bank. He offers George a $20K salary in 1936, more than $350K today. Definitely a millionaire, possibly a billionaire.
The Silence of the Lambs (1991): The most influential person is probably Senator Ruth Martin. Buffalo Bill has the FBI after him because he kidnapped the Senator’s daughter. Dr. Lector was wealthy, but I have difficulty putting money first in this psychological thriller.
City of God (2002) – Drug lords fighting for control in a Brazilian favela. I’m not sure about the exchange rate, but the crime war involves most of the drug money in town.
Saving Private Ryan (1998) – Not much money here, just world war two combat up close and personal.
Life is Beautiful (1997) – Another world war two film focused on the Holocaust. Hard to say this one is about money even if the family wins a tank in the end.

Well, it’s hard for me to count this one clearly, especially where we have Middle Earth, the Star Wars universe, and the postapocalyptic world of the Matrix to calculate finances. But even in those fantasy worlds, we often deal with their wealthiest and most powerful characters. Morpheus owns a sweet hovercraft!

By my count, 18 have millionaires, billionaires, kings, senators, and drug lords. And why shouldn’t they? Money is a major motivator in our lives, why should fictional characters be different? And even when the characters have nothing but the rice they grow themselves, it is a major focus of the movie. You don’t have to have many resources to find motivation.

So is there an escape from money in stories? Yes! But the authors probably have to kill characters to make it happen.

Speaking of death, murders, and war, how many of those movies don’t have violent death? None of them.

I thought It’s a Wonderful Life came the closest, except it has a montage of World War Two where Navy fighter pilot Ace Harry Bailey shoots down 15 enemy planes. Joe Baley prepares for suicide to collect life insurance money. Inception deaths besides Mal’s suicide are dream projections, but we still get plenty of murder and mayhem on screen.

Maybe money as a motivator is the safer option in the end.

To stack bills, bodies, or both?

A World Building Secret hidden in the opening Star Wars Title Crawl.

While researching my story structure book on Star Wars, something stuck out to me in the opening line of the title credits. It reads;

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…

STAR WARS
Episode IV
A NEW HOPE

It is a period of civil war. Rebel spaceships, striking from a hidden base, have won their first victory against the evil Galactic Empire. During the battle, Rebel spies managed to steal secret plans to the Empire’s ultimate weapon, the DEATH STAR, and space station with enough power to destroy an entire planet.

Pursued by the Empire’s sinister agents, Princess Leia races home aboard her starship, custodian of the stolen plans that can save her people and restore freedom to the galaxy….

Wait a second. Let’s rewind.

It is a period of civil war.

Civil War.

But if Star Wars is a civil war, taking place inside the Empire’s borders, that should be in contrast to interstate war outside its borders. Star Wars’ central conflict is a civil war, which means other geo-political (or astro-political) entities border the galactic empire!

The evil Galactic Empire has neighbors.

And so did the Republic the Jedi protected. The Star Wars Universe is much bigger than a single galaxy. Our Milky Way Galaxy is part of the Star Wars Universe even if it is far, far away.

Even the name Star Wars is plural! This civil war is just one of many wars.

There are Extra-galactic aliens in the extended Star Wars Universe, but these are only half canon. But I think there is a gold mine of world-building opportunities in the opening few lines of Star Wars. How do the neighbors react to the death of the Emperor? What are their Jedi equivalents? The Force is much bigger than a single galaxy, after all. Was the Death Star designed to deter an intergalactic conflict? Are the other galaxies unified?

Vader tells Luke “With our combined strength, we can end this destructive conflict and bring order to the galaxy.” How surprising would it be if the Empire was more afraid of what lurked outside their Galaxy than the rebels inside? What if the Empire needs a Death Star to protect itself? What if other groups looked at the chaos in the Empire and saw an opportunity to attack?

A nice view of a galaxy at the end of the Empire Strikes Back

And what other types of war could there be? Here are some options:

Cold War – political, economic, propaganda, and espionage instead of military action
Invasion – Military Offensive that aggressively enters to conquer or liberate
Proxy War – armed conflict instigated on behalf of other parties
Undeclared War – A military conflict without either side issuing a formal declaration.
Total War – all civilians and resources become military targets.

Star Wars occurs during a civil war between remnants of the old republic and the current empire. Inspired by Rome’s transition from republic to empire under Julius Caesar in 31 BC, Star Wars combines that political setting with iconography from the World Wars, especially ace pilot combat footage.

But with Rome as an inspiration, there could be many options to keep the Star Wars engine moving! Egyptian Pharaos, Mithradites the Poison King, Successive Emperors, good and bad, Pompey, putting down the pirates in the Mediterranian! You could even have The Republic’s Hannibal resurface like Star Trek’s Khan in Star Punic Wars.

While we will likely never see the multiple Wars in Star Wars play out, I think it is fun to imagine the possibilities.

Roman History can provide wars for all the franchises you need!

The Secret of Plot Twists, what are they?

The phrase ‘plot twist’ makes it sound like there was an unexpected development in the series of events in the story. Something startling took place, and now the story direction will go a different way, like running into a road-closed sign and taking a detour.

But I don’t think plot twists usually have much to do with the plot; that is, the series of events in a story. Often the plot twists make us rethink what has already happened. Unexpected things often happen in stories, but we do not call them plot twists. Take jump scares, for instance. Is it a plot twist if we go to a haunted house? I don’t think so.

So if plot twists are not just about the unexpected, do they change the events? Usually not. The past events remain the same, but the reasoning and intention behind the events changes. The plot isn’t twisted, our minds are. So if the plot remains mostly unchanged, what twists? I think I have an idea.

Plot twists are identity twists. That person or object you thought was one thing is really something else. That is the secret. But it’s a bit of a magic trick. You want to ensure the audience does not realize the illusion until it is too late.

So what identities can twist into plot twists? Let’s go through a few famous film plot twists and see where the surprise lies.

We have good reason to think that Mrs. Bates is the murderer.

Psycho (1960)
District Attorney: Did he talk to you?
Simon: No. I got the whole story… but not from Norman. I got it from… his mother.

Bate’s mother is not the killer, even if we have ‘seen’ her kill. It was not actually her. Norman Bates, dressed as his mother, is the killer. He has multiple personalities.

Multiple personalities are a good way to think about plot twists because even if the medical condition is not part of the story, the audience has to reconcile two unique identities competing. Simon even describes this struggle in Psycho.

Simon: When the mind houses two personalities, there is always a battle. In Norman’s case, the battle is over… and the dominant personality has won.

Is this mental battle between two personalities what a plot twist really is? I think the battle of rethinking identities is what leaves the audience reeling. And there does not always have to be a winning identity.

Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
Darth Vader: If you only knew the power of the dark side. Obi-Wan never told you what happened to your father.
Luke: He told me enough! He told me you killed him.
Darth Vader: No, I am your father.

The villain from the first two movies, who Luke thinks killed his father, is his father. Obi-Wan Kenobi misleads Luke.

Family is another good way to twist an identity. That person who tried to kill you? They are really your family. That person who died? Actually, they were your family, too. Family is a unique biological relationship because even if someone is terrible, you have a connection to them that death will not change. Siblings, parents, and children seem to be the strongest in the family twist area. Cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents don’t seem to have the same impact.

Changing identities in step

The Usual Suspects (1995)
Kujan: WHERE IS HE? DID YOU SEE HIM?
Cop: The Cripple? He went that way.

Verbal Kint is Keyser Soze. He does not have cerebral palsy. He was playing the role of a crippled thug to hide his real identity as the dark mastermind behind everything. As Verbal says,

Verbal: A man can’t change what he is. He can convince anyone he’s someone else, but never himself. The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist.

Verbal does not have multiple personality disorder. Verbal is an act and an intentional deception. But the idea of being two people, or having two identities that must fight it out, is still here. We have to rethink everything that happened with this new information. The series of events may not change, but we now rethink everything that happened, knowing that Verbal was probably the mastermind of everything, and very little of what he said is true.

Of course, your other personality is more fashionable

Fight Club (1997)
Jack: What did you just call me? Say my name.
Marla: Tyler Durden! Tyler Durden, you fucking freak. What’s going on? I’m coming over…

Tyler Durden is not Jack’s friend turned enemy. Jack is Tyler Durden. Jack has multiple personalities. Here we have the raw multiple personality disorder diagnosis again. But because it is done well, and we must rethink the story knowing Jack did everything, we put the whole puzzle back together again, enjoying every moment. A little montage often helps us rethink the events. Tyler joins Jack in a hotel room to flip through previous events to help Jack, and the audience, make sense of it all.

Planet of the Apes (1968)
George Taylor: You Maniacs! You blew it up! Ah, damn you! God damn you all to hell!

The planet of the Apes is not an alien planet. It is Earth, years after a nuclear war. The astronauts did not make it to a distant world in their millennia of cryo-sleep. Here, the identity that twists is the planet itself. George thinks he might escape this alien place and get back to earth. But he is mistaken because he is already on earth. This time, it is not a character with multiple identities; it is the setting.

Se7en (1995)
John Doe: It seems that envy is my sin. Become vengeance, David. Become wrath.

John Doe is Envy. David is Wrath.

Se7en follows a serial killer who targets victims using the seven deadly sins as a template. The twist is that the investigator David becomes the ultimate killer completing the seven crimes. John Doe is the killer and a victim of his plot. John Doe must die for his sin of Envy, and David and his wife are who John Doe envied.

The setup for se7evn is more complex than many other twists because you need to understand and expect the final two victims. Identity sharing fits into the crimes. Where every other crime, they find new victims for each of the seven sins at the crime scene; we already know the victims of the final two sins. We just don’t know their identity, until the end.

Saw (2004)
John: Most people are so ungrateful to be alive. But not you. Not anymore. GAME OVER.

That is not a corpse lying in the middle of the room. That is Jigsaw, the killer who orchestrated the whole situation, and he is not dead. Not a victim, but the killer and not dead, but still alive.

The Sixth Sense (1999)
Anna: Why did you leave me?
Malcolm: I didn’t leave you.

Probably the most famous twist in movie history. Malcolm isn’t just a psych helping Cole with his ghost problems. Malcolm is a ghost himself. Malcolm has been dead most of the movie and did not know it. Having two identities compete does not require multiple personality disorder. For the sixth sense, it is living and dead, which most of the movie has dealt with because Cole can see the dead.

Do any of the events change with this realization? Technically no, but as we go through Malcolm’s flashbacks, we see the previous events in a new light. We even get a montage to help us understand it all. Malcolm’s wife was not cheating on him. She was trying to move on after his death. Cole even gives us the reason Malcolm does not know he’s dead.

Cole: I see people. They don’t know they’re dead. They’re everywhere. They only see what they want to see.

Now let’s do a couple of sad ones.

The Mist sends its regards, friend.

The Mist (2007) – David Drayton’s car runs out of gas, and he shoots his family to spare them from a grisly death from the monsters hiding outside in the mist. What he thinks is an act of mercy changes to an act of horror, when he sees the military arrive. The situation was not hopeless.

The situation, the mist, is what David and the audience misidentify. He thought it was the end of the world, but he was wrong. If it were a hopeless situation, his act might make sense given the horrors he has seen. But because David was wrong, he will never stop screaming.

Chinatown (1974)
EVELYN: She’s my sister— she’s my daughter — my sister — My daughter, my sister—
GITTES: I said I want the truth.
EVELYN: She’s my sister and my daughter!

Here we have another family identity crisis. This time there is not an identity that wins. Both of Katherine’s identities are true. Katherine is Evelyn’s daughter and sister, and Katherine’s father is also her grandfather. Multiple personalities might be the most famous plot twist trope, but multiple identities seem to be the most important.

Let’s end on a happy note!

Charlie Kaufman makes fun of the idea of serial killers with multiple personalities in the semi-autobiographical film Adaptation (2002), where his fictional twin, Donald, pitches a script idea.

DONALD: Okay, but there’s a twist. See, we find out the killer suffers from multiple personality disorder. Okay? See, he’s really also the cop and the girl. All of them. It’s all him! Isn’t that crazy?
KAUFMAN: Look, the only idea more overused than serial killers, is multiple personality.

Nothing like having two personalities talk about how weird it would be to have three personalities.

So multiple personalities are the classic identity twist. Killer’s identities and Family relationships are high up there too. You can twist the setting and the situation.

Some of the strongest plot twists set up their rules in the story and then twist those patterns, like in The Sixth Sense and Se7en. These might qualify as twisting plots and identities because the identities are tied so closely to the story’s series of events and rules.

But twisting identity is not enough. Just because the characters mistake an identity, does not mean the audience will. Let’s look at a classic example of mistaken identity that is not a plot twist.

Famous line? Yes. Plot twist? No.

Star Wars (1977)
Luke: Look at him. He’s headed for that small moon.
Han: I think I can get him before he gets there… he’s almost in range.
Ben: That’s no moon, that’s a space station.

Obi-Wan Kenobi and the crew of the Millennium Falcon mistake the Death Star for a moon. But the audience does not. This is one of the film’s most famous lines. It looks like it could be a plot twist, but it didn’t catch us off guard. We already know about the Death Star and have even seen it destroy a planet.

It’s not just the trick of twisting identities but the audience’s reaction that makes a plot twist magic. The audience’s understanding of identities must change for a plot twist to land a knock-out punch.

the plot twist reaction you want

Murder mysteries seem to be the genre most prone to twisting, but I’ll talk about that later.

What does Bruce the Shark from Jaws want?

It might seem strange to ask what a shark is looking for, where the shark gives no speeches and sings no songs. Bruce is not a Disney Princess. But does a monster like the great white shark in Jaws have things it wants? I think he might! Let’s find out using Steven Reiss’ 16 Desires.

Bruce can’t talk; if he did, it would probably be in bloody bubbles. But fortunately, Hooper, our wealthy and gregarious shark expert, does some explaining for Bruce.

Thanks for the food!

Hooper: There are two ways to deal with this problem: you‘re either going to kill this animal or you‘re gonna cut off its food supply.

And then, to clarify his point to the Mayor, Hooper explains what a shark is and how big this one has grown.

Hooper: Mr. Vaughn, what we are dealing with here is a perfect engine, ah, an
eating machine. It’s really a miracle of evolution. All this machine does is swim and eat and make little sharks. And that’s all. Now why don’t you take a long close look at this sign. Those proportions are correct.

So, according to Hooper, sharks want to eat, swim around, and make baby eating machines. No one mentions whether sharks care for their young (they usually don’t), so a desire for a family is off, although this may become an issue in the sequels. Hooper does not talk about how they reproduce, so there is no shark romance.

Hooper gives an excellent overview, but it does not feel like Bruce because Bruce is not a regular shark. His behavior baffles shark-hunter Quint and shark-expert Hooper. Bruce gets away from Quint’s barrels, but then Bruce follows their boat.

Hooper: You ever have one do this before?
Quint: I don’t know. — Hold fast!
Hooper: He’s chasin‘ us, I don’t believe it!
Quint: We’re gonna draw him into the shadows, draw him in the shallow water, gonna draw him in and drown him. We’re headin’ in, Brody!
Martin: Thank Christ! Ever have a Great White do this?
Hooper: No!

Bruce is out for vengeance. He takes their hunt personally. And he will not give until his hunters are dead.

I’ll show you shark hunter!

Does Bruce have a third desire? Maybe physical activity, curiosity, or independence are options. Sharks have to move to breathe. A shark that stops swimming will suffocate and die, precisely like Quint’s plan to kill Bruce. So Bruce is not necessarily more active than other sharks. Is Bruce curious? Not really, but he seems like the calculating shark and more intelligent than most.

Independence? Sharks are relatively independent by nature. But maybe Bruce is more independent than most sharks. Is Bruce motivated by others trying to control him? I think he might be. He goes explicitly after fishermen, and when the beach patrol brings out the armada, he circumvents them and goes into the estuary.

The more I think about it; Bruce doesn’t even care about eating. He’ll bite through cables, rip out chains, and chew through ropes to free himself. I think freedom motivates Bruce, too! He frees himself multiple times from barrels and harpoons, shaking off his bonds. He doesn’t have to because he’s such a giant shark. The barrels can’t float him to the surface.

You can’t trap me, fishing guy!

And I overlooked another one, power. Does Bruce the shark want to dominate? Yes, he does. And we see it from his first victim, Chrissie Watkins.

Bruce doesn’t have to tear Chrissie Watkins around, but he wants to.

Bruce can sneak around the shallow waters of Amity Island, quietly plucking victims under the water. He does it several times. But is that a reaction to all the shark watchers? He inspects his prey and surroundings, which is why he is so hard to catch. Set up a shark wall of boats and guns, and he will go into the estuary. But if he gets a chance, he will dominate his food.

Bruce doesn’t need to sink a ship to find food, but wants to. He is the dominant force in the ocean and wants to prove it. This combination of power and vengeance makes this shark highly motivated by your threats. Hunt him, and he will take it personally. He will dominate and eat you.

Bruce is powerful and wants to take on bigger prey. He is not much of a leader as far as we know, but he controls his waters.

So here are my guesses for Bruce’s desires:

Vengeance (Compete, Retaliate, Defeat, come from behind)
Power (Domination, Control, Authority)
Independence (Freedom, Self Reliance, Determination)

I thought for sure eating was going to be on Bruce’s list! But Bruce does not care what he eats. He is eating for power, chasing boats for vengeance, and chewing through ropes for freedom. He frees himself from fishing lines and then goes after the fishermen. And he doesn’t just eat his food; he dominates it. He leaves limbs and torsos behind in his wake. Bruce is not a shark foodie!

Well, that is not what I expected. Bruce is a powerhouse! You don’t want to be anywhere near him. Offend him, and he will chase you forever. Trap him, and he will escape. Get in his waters, and he will dominate you. What a force to be reckoned with! He’ll eat you, but probably leave the carnage behind to terrorize your friends.

And your little boat too!

No wonder Quint and Hooper are so scared by Bruce’s behavior. They are used to sharks that want to eat, swim and make more sharks, but eating is not even a motivator for Bruce. Once he has his sights set on you, he will never give up. You have offended all of his desires by trying to catch him.

Bruce surprised me in this game of guessing desires. I thought a shark of all movie monsters would be simple in its motivations. This is just a game to understand Reiss’ 16 desires better, so you might disagree. But for me, when desires click in, it is like a lock combination opens. Suddenly, it is almost like I can see the personality driving the characters’ actions, even if it is Bruce the shark.

And Bruce is out there … taking it personally.

What does Roy Batty from Blade Runner Want?

“I want more life,” Roy tells Elden Tyrell. Well, that was a fast game of what they want! Roy wants to live longer than four years.

But survival, or ‘more life’, is not on Reiss’ 16 desire list. Neither is shelter, money, or spirituality. These things make up a considerable part of our lives! But in Reiss’ research, these are not desires themselves. Instead, our desires are WHY we want survival, shelter, money, or spirituality. The 16 desires motivate us at an even deeper level. The great thing about using the Reiss model is we can discover why Roy wants more life.

Let’s see how they introduce Roy to the audience.

“What is this?” Deckard asks as Vangelis’s synthesizers swell ominously.
“Nexus 6. Roy Batty.” Police Captain Bryant says. “Incept date 2016. Combat model. Optimum self-sufficiency. Probably the leader.“

This description is fascinating because we get the parameters of Roy’s creation. If we followed these details, we should easily be able to see what motivates Roy. Here are the features Roy’s creators wanted:

Independence (Freedom, Self Reliance, Determination)
Vengeance (Compete, Retaliate, Defeat, come from behind)
Power (Domination, Control, Authority)

But something seems off. That isn’t Roy Batty.

He isn’t fiercely independent; he is usually with someone else. Roy does not seem motivated by vengeance, either. He has plenty of chances to get revenge on Deckard, but only breaks two of his fingers for the female replicants Deckard retired. And if power were a motivation, Roy should be able to dominate the weaker-minded Zhora, Pris, and Leon, but he refuses to. He does not lead the replicants through his superior mental prowess. Come to think of it, Roy should be able to dominate EVERYONE in Blade Runner. He’s as smart as his genius creator. Maybe smarter. None of those desires seem right for Roy!

Let’s try again, but this time, let’s look at what Roy says.

“You better get it up, or I’m gonna have to kill ya! Unless you’re alive, you can’t play, and if you don’t play…”

Roy tells us here the reason for living is play. Does Social Interaction work as Roy’s primary desire? I think it does. He wants to play with his friends. He cries and struggles to find the right words when he tells Pris, “Ahh… There’s only two of us now.”

He even manipulates J.F. Sebastian by becoming his friend. Roy could easily torture Sebastian but decides not to. Pris helps, saying, “We need you, Sebastian. You’re our best and only friend.” as well. Roy then makes Sebastian laugh by playing with some eyeballs lying around the apartment. “We’re so happy you found us!”

We’re so happy you found us! Roy loves to play; if only his world weren’t so dreary!

Roy does not just want more life for himself. He wants it for his friends as well. “If we don’t find help soon, Pris hasn’t got long to live. We can’t allow that,” Roy tells Sebastian. Roy then walks over to a chessboard and asks, “Is he good?”

Sebastian asks, “Who?”

“Your opponent” Roy clarifies. Roy will even use games and play to reach his creator.

JF even introduces Roy to Tyrell saying, “Mr. Tyrell. I— I brought a friend.”

Roy howls in despair after losing Pris. With no friends left, Roy spends the last few moments of his life playing a game with Deckard. He sings, he recites nursery rhymes; he gives Deckard back his gun and lets him take a free shot, but when Deckard falls off the side of the building, the game is over. Deckard may not be a genuine friend, but he is the only social interaction Roy has left at the end of his life.

This leads us to Roy’s next major motivator: Romance. He says, “Chew, if only you could see what I’ve seen with your eyes!” and he tells Deckard, “I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe!”

Roy describes some of the beautiful things he has seen in his brief life, “Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion… I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate.” Roy is so enthralled by the beauty of it all he makes poetry. Even as his body is shutting down, Roy describes his situation with a poetic simile, “All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain... Time to die.“

I think Roy’s third desire is idealism.

He recognized the injustice his creators had inflicted on him and his friends with a four-year life span and wanted to fix it. How could life be so beautiful and so short, while the replicants live in fear as slaves? Roy thought he could change the situation for his replicant friends, even if it was incredibly difficult. They at least had to try, even if it meant sacrificing the last moments they had. Roy is shocked to find out there is no way he can get more life.

“You were made as well as we could make you,” Tyrell tells Roy.
“But not to last,” Roy laments.

Roy doubts his actions. “I’ve done questionable things,” he says. Now that he knows nothing can save him or Pris from their expiration dates, was it all worth it? Roy isn’t sure. But because his creators cannot fix the problem, Roy kills them for what they have done. I don’t think Roy kills Tyrell and Sebastian for personal revenge but to right the injustice they inflicted on the replicants by creating them to be more human than human, but with such a short shelf life. He even apologizes to Sebastian, his friend, before killing him. It does not seem personal with Roy, but ideological.

Roy thinks constantly about ethics, questioning his own motivations and others. “Not very sporting to fire on an unarmed opponent,” Roy says after dodging Deckard’s first bullet. “I thought you were supposed to be good. Aren’t you the good man? Come on Deckard. Show me what you’re made of.” If play and justice motivate Roy, you better play fair. At least as fair as you can against a superhuman.

Roy breaks two of Deckard’s fingers for killing Zhora and Pris. Punishment must be inflicted, but the replicant women only had a short time left. Deckard did not create them and was not responsible for their brief lives. With Deckard’s punishment already exacted, Roy had no reason to punish him further. So instead, he plays a game. Roy sets the parameters of their play and gives Deckard his gun back. “Come on, Deckard, I’m right here, but you’ve got to shoot straight.” Deckard takes a shot with his off-hand, and Roy dodges Deckard’s bullet again at point blank range, a blood trail oozing where the bullet grazed his temple.

“Straight doesn’t seem to be good enough! Now it’s my turn. I’m gonna give you a few seconds before I come. One, Two. Three, Four.” It’s the only way this game will be any fun. Roy plays with a handicap, it’s only fair. It is the sporting thing to do. Deckard is no match for Roy, but no one is. Roy mourns Pris’ death, kisses her while Deckard runs, and howls in agony now that he is alone, but then Roy finishes his count, and the game with Deckard continues. Roy is happy to play as long as he can. He even puts a nail through his palm to play a little longer.

And when Deckard spits in Roy’s face as he falls, Roy shouts, “Kinship!” and catches him. Even if only for a few moments, Roy found a playmate he could save. And Roy didn’t want to die alone.

So here are my guesses for Roy Batty’s primary desires:

Social Contact (Friendship, Companions, Group play)
Romance (Beauty, Art, Attraction)
Idealism (Belief, sacrifice, Justice, and making things right)

This feels more like Roy to me. A playful and friendly romantic who will sacrifice trying to repair what is wrong. One of the most difficult things in trying to understand our desires is how much internal conflict there is between them. The desires feed off one another, giving dimension and depth to our motivations.

There is also a conflict between what we have and what we want because often they do not match up. Roy may be powerful, but he does not want power. By design, he may not need help; but he wants friends. And while he could get revenge, he’d rather repair injustice to help his friends. And what a pity it is that for all the amazing things he has seen, those moments will all disappear without being shared. Roy loses all his friends and dies on top of a dingy, abandoned, apartment complex, unable to fix the replicant’s condition, with only his would-be killer to talk to. But at least Roy does not die alone.

And as a side note, you may notice how similar Roy Batty’s list of desires is to Luke Skywalker’s, but instead of Honor Roy has Romance. Luke is slightly more idealistic than Roy, but their desires seem fairly close. The 16 desires are not good or evil. Would Roy have been the hero in a different story? Maybe he already was.

Blade Runner’s rooftop showdown told in Camera Angles.

The final rooftop sequence of Blade Runner is one of my favorites. I want to focus on one aspect; the camera angles. Check to see if there is ground, or sky in the frame, and if so, how much? If you see a lot of ground, you are looking down. If you see a ceiling or a vast sky, you are looking up.

The build up to one of the greatest moments in cinematic history

Let’s start with Deckard climbing onto the rooftop. He just slammed Roy in the head with a plumbing pipe and jumped out the bathroom window. Deckard dropped his gun while climbing up shelves from a previous floor. It bothered me when I was younger that Deckard didn’t go back and get his gun, but Roy dodged Deckard’s bullets twice, once at point blank range. His gun won’t help him against Roy, Deckard just needs to escape.

Roy is playing with Deckard, but Roy does not immediately follow because he is expiring. Deckard intended to retire Roy, but where he failed, time is quickly succeeding. Roy’s hand clenches uncontrollably as his engineered body dies. Roy desperately bites at his hand, trying to coax life back into it.

The first shot we see of Roy in the film is his hand clenching, as Roy asks himself, “Time? Enough.” We only know a Roy whose body is shutting down. He has been dying the entire film. What must Roy have been like before his expiration date? Even Tyrell praised his accomplishments. Roy must have been legendary. But his time is almost up. Roy grabs an old nail from the floor joists and impales it through his hand to eke out a few more minutes of life in agonizing pain.

Now onto the camera angles. We get a close-up of Deckard’s broken fingers reaching over the edge as he slowly and carefully climbs to the roof to escape from Roy. We are at eye level with Deckard looking straight on as he climbs. Here, eye level is almost on the floor.

We get a shot of Deckard swinging his leg onto the roof. The shot is from above angled down but does not emphasize that he is dangling off the top of a building. That will come soon.

Deckard rolls onto the roof and sprawls out, inspecting his fingers. The camera lays with him looking straight on. The camera is on the rooftop floor with him.

We see a shot of Roy cutting back and forth through the apartment rooms below. The camera is looking almost straight on but is about at knee height. Roy starts far away as he cuts towards us, but this low angle makes him tower above us as he resumes hunting Deckard.

Deckard stands up. The camera is at thigh height, looking straight on as he gathers himself and looks for a way off the roof.

Deckard stumbles across the roof between pipes, spinning fan blades and spotlights. He is looking for an exit. It looks like this shot is on a fairly long lens to give more depth to all the spinning fans, layers of smoke, and wandering searchlights. We are at shoulder height, looking straight at Deckard.

We see Deckard’s POV of an exit hatch shot on a wider lens, but same waist high angle and straight view. An escape!

Deckard runs towards the camera and the hatch to get away from Roy. Because the lens on Deckard is long, the spinning blades blur as the focus pulls. The long lens also compresses space, giving the illusion that Deckard runs slower as he approaches the camera.

But then the exit hatch rips open. Someone is coming out of it.

Deckard slides to a stop coming towards the camera. Hunched over, and staring in disbelief, Deckard is slightly below the camera. The background has now completely blurred, and we see the horror on his face as he realizes his safe exit is now a death trap.

We cut to see Roy standing hunched forward, looking at Deckard. Roy hunches over, and the camera is below him, looking slightly up. Even hunched over, Roy is above us. We do not see Roy jump out of the roof hatch. In the time it took for Deckard to slide to a stop, Roy has already closed some distance from the hatch to Deckard. I think the temptation in a computer graphics production would show Roy’s superhuman powers here. But this quick film edit is amazing, leaving Roy’s speed to our imagination.

Deckard turns to run. We angle down on Deckard as we can see the top of his shoulders and the floor behind him. In the previous shots, Roy’s and Deckard’s eyes were close to the same location in the frame, but Roy is above us, and Deckard is below.

Deckard turns and runs towards the camera. We see both Roy and Deckard together in the frame. With the camera angles and how they positioned Roy, Deckard’s head comes up to the center of Roy’s chest.

Deckard runs back the way he came. The camera looks tilted down at him. When Deckard ran towards us before, it appeared he was running downhill. The horizon line is high in the frame. But now that he is running back, it looks like he has to run uphill.

Roy gracefully leaps onto the pipes Deckard was running in between. Roy is even higher than us now.

Deckard leaps off the roof, over the city street, toward the neighboring building. We are looking down at this stunt. Deckard’s shoulders barely reach the camera’s height, even at his highest point. Then he slams into the metal studs.

We cross over to see Deckard crash towards us onto the metal. When he climbed up onto the roof before we were level with his eyes. But now we look down on him as he slips off the building, trying desperately not to fall. But the camera does not drop to his level this time. Instead, we dolly in closer as the camera moves over the edge of the building, tilting down more and more on Deckard. He is below the floor level, and we look down at him like we stare at our shoes.

We cut to Roy, stepping towards the edge of the building to see what happened to Deckard. Roy is no longer running. He is carefully stepping forward to investigate. His game is over. Roy’s play-thing is now moments away from death, just like Roy himself. We are below the rooftop level, looking up at Roy. It’s like he’s on another floor above us.

We cut back to Deckard, struggling to hold on in the same shot we had before.

Now we cut even closer to Roy. We are on his left side, and Roy fills the frame. We are still looking up at him, but it is not as dramatic as before. The lens is long, bringing us close to Roy, who takes deep breaths as he watches Deckard lose his grip.

Roy steps away from the ledge, back where he came, leaving Deckard behind. Deckard struggles and looks away from his hands as if he doesn’t want to watch his death arrive.

Now we get a shot with Roy crossing his arms, a nail sticking through one hand, a dove in the other, his back to Deckard. Roy covers Deckard in the frame. The camera is now above Roy, angled down. Roy has been above us for most of this sequence. Even when he opened the hatch, it was only a couple frames before he loomed over Deckard.

What will Roy do? I am reminded of the first question in the Voight-Kampff test Holden asks, “You reach down, you flip the tortoise over on its back Leon…The tortoise lies on its back, its belly baking in the hot sun, beating its legs, trying to turn itself over, but it can’t, not without your help, but you’re not helping.”

Roy’s game put Deckard into this situation. Does Deckard deserve to fall for killing Zhora and Pris when Roy has already broken Deckard’s fingers for that? What will Roy do?

Roy unfolds his arms and turns around, revealing Deckard in the frame behind him. Roy then attempts the jump that Deckard failed. The camera tracks along with Roy as he leaps over the edge. The camera has not tracked along with a character at any other point in this sequence. We are with Roy as he makes the jump, making it feel like we, too, are leaping over the edge.

We then get a shot looking up at Roy as he clears the gap. The camera is so far below Roy that we see the soles of his shoes as he soars above us. We might be a couple of stories below him.

We see Roy soar over Deckard from behind and below. It’s an over-the-shoulder telephoto shot. The camera looks up at Deckard from below, while Deckard is far below Roy, who disappears into the smoke. Roy clears the gap with so much extra space he disappears into the rain and fog. Even at the brink of death, he is physically superior to Deckard.

Now, we see the highest-angle shot possible. The camera is directly above Deckard, looking down at the street. The camera tilts slightly, giving the image an unbalanced look.

We cut back to an over-the-shoulder below Deckard as Roy emerges from the smoke above us and kneels down. Both of them are high above us, but Roy is so high above the camera that even kneeling only brings him closer to us.

We get a new angle on Deckard as his grip fails. We look down on Deckard and the camera tilts so the metal beam is pointing up in the frame, above 45 degrees. Deckard slips farther down. This gives the illusion that the building tilts up and away from Deckard, almost trying to shake him off. Roy leans into the frame over Deckard in this exact shot, and you can see his shoulder on the left of the frame.

Then we cut to Roy’s eyes, almost glowing in the darkness as he looks down on us and Deckard. Roy is looking towards us, but if you look at the raindrops, you can see that Roy is standing high above the camera. The telephoto shot is so tight to Roy that his face fills the entire frame. Roy grimaces as he watches Deckard struggle as if going back and forth between entertainment, fascination, and horror.

Looking down at Deckard, we get a tighter shot of his face. His hands are no longer in the frame as he struggles to keep his grip. The long camera lens puts us close to both characters, with Roy high above and Deckard far below us.

The images cut back and forth between these shots as Roy tells Deckard, “Quite an experience to live in fear, isn’t it? That’s what it is to be a slave.” Roy is still above us but looking directly at us through the camera.

We see a shot looking down at Deckard’s fingers as he slips farther off the building. They angle the metal beam even higher in the frame. We were at his level when Deckard climbed onto the roof, but now he hangs far below us.

We cut back and forth to previous camera shots: a close-up looking down at Deckard’s hands as one hand slips, directly over Deckard as his grip fails, looking up at Roy, who smiles at Deckard. Deckard loses his grip completely and spits at Roy as he falls from the roof.

“Kinship!” shouts Roy as he catches Deckard’s wrist, saving Deckard from the fall. The camera looks down from Roy’s shoulder level. Roy dropped to catch Deckard. For his shoulder to be that low in the frame, Roy had to dive over the edge to catch Deckard. But we do not see Roy in that inferior position. Roy remains above us.

We get a low shot, looking up at Roy’s face as he struggles momentarily. This is the same hand that moments before had closed up as Roy’s body shut down.

We look down from above Deckard’s face as he grits his teeth like Roy is ripping his arm out of his socket. Roy is much stronger than Deckard, and even saving him hurts.

Roy purses his lips in determination as he lifts Deckard, the nail through Roy’s hand visible as he stands up, bringing Deckard onto the roof. Deckard holds onto his elbow, bracing himself, as Roy hoists him.

We get a shot from far below Roy and Deckard. Roy’s arm fully extends as he lifts Deckard up, showing just how strong Roy is. Deckard kicks his legs wide, trying to find some foothold to stand on.

Roy flops Deckard down, his belly exposed to the rain. Deckard once again lays out completely, but now Roy stands directly above him. The extreme camera tilting is over. We will look a little up and down. But the character’s position in the frame tells the story here. Deckard lies at Roy’s feet. And Roy is standing so high in the frame that the edge of the frame cuts his head off. Deckard crawls away from Roy, coming towards the camera.

We get a reverse shot of Deckard crawling away from us. We are on Roy’s side now. The camera is at mid-thigh height, looking down on Deckard. Roy looms high above us, and most of his body clips out of frame. Deckard is completely visible in the frame, as if its edges trap him, but Roy is so big in frame he does not fit. We only see Roy’s knees, running shorts, and his hand with a nail through it as he steps towards Deckard, who crawls back into a pillar. Deckard has no way out now and squirms below Roy. And then Roy slowly sits down.

We get a reverse shot of Roy slowly sitting down. Moments before, Roy filled the entire frame; now, he sits just above eye level with the camera and gives the “tears in rain” monologue.

“I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe… Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion… I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain… Time to die.”

Roy remains above us, and Deckard stays below. But this might be as close as Roy can get to Deckard’s level because he might be more human than human.

I don’t know if it is possible to angle the camera higher up or lower down than this sequence shows. Deckard falls so far below us that we look straight down at the street below him. Roy jumps so high above us that we see the soles of his shoes.

There is tremendous power in the angle of a camera. If it took physical effort to climb to all the places the camera positions itself in this scene, we would have to climb up and down multiple stories in less than a minute. Emotionally, I think that happens here as well.

With all the fantastic special effects available, it is incredible how powerful the camera can be when pointing up and down.

As Roy dies, he releases the dove in his hand, and it flies up and away from us. We then get a shot of the clouds in the sky above 2019 Los Angeles.